All of the readings for today had a distinct and interesting theme of language, specifically that of the Japanese language and people’s relationship to it.
My favorite story of the week was “The Great Passage”. It was almost inspiring to know that there was someone so passionate about what people would largely consider a mundane topic and commonplace and yet still take great care in dealing with dictionaries. People who were seen as weird or strange by others found meaning and joy in the often forgotten and everyday-ness of dictionaries, and how words are used in real life. I saw a lot of similarities between the protagonists of “War Bride” and “The Great Passage”. Both characters deeply care about words, although the one in War Bride holds them close to her chest, and is more fascinated in the actual sound of the word, rather than the meaning itself.
“Poor Aunt” is a bit of a confusing story, but I think its overall message is about how despite words being “just words”, their meanings and usages can manifest into real emotions and physical responses to people. The main character repeats again and again that the “thing” on their back was just a poor aunt, a concept of words, but people they encounter, from their real estate agent to their friend, visualized something tangible. There might be more to a hidden meaning of sorts— maybe the poor aunt represents what they pity or feel worst about, but it shows how people’s fears and desires can ascribe realness to simple words.
Mine Mizumura’s “The Fall of Language in the Age of English” was a fascinating read, albeit a bit sad to think about the future of literature. She propositions that non-English literature is not only at a disadvantage but actively discouraged in the time that English is being used as a lingua franca. Obviously scholars and writers want their works to be seen and reviewed my the most people, and the normalization of English on the online sphere and its dominance in media only further encourages that.
I wasn’t so much a fan of the story “The Emissary”, because I wasn’t sure how it related to the theme relative to the other stories of the week, although the naming conventions of locations certainly seemed to be key. The naïveté of the main character for some parts of the story were frustrating to read; rather than feeling curious he felt moreso ignorant.
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